The son of Sir De Villiers Graaff, 2nd Baronet, he was born in 1940, after his father left to serve in the North African Campaign.

[1] David took his undergraduate degree BSC Agric University of Stellenbosch, preparatory to a career in politics and farming, but also read politics, philosophy and economics at Magdalen College, Oxford and studied at the University of Grenoble.

Like his father, he entered South African politics and served as Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry under FW De Klerk.

[3][4] When he inherited the baronetcy and the family estate of De Grendel upon his father's death, he decided to experiment with viniculture and winemaking.

Sir David was a director of Graaffs Trust and The Milnerton Estates Limited.